He said: “We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan.

USS NIMITZ

Length: 1,092ft

Aircraft: 90 fixed wing and helicopters

Speed: 31.5 knots

Weight: 101,600 tons

Crew: 5,680

Home port: Kitsap, Washington

Commissioned: May 1975

“While all options are on the table, President Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region, and with China.

“We seek peace always as a country, as does Japan, but as you know and the United States knows, peace comes through strength and we will stand strongly with Japan and strongly with our allies for a peace and security in this region.

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Mike Pence with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe

AP:Associated Press

The USS Carl Vinson has already been dispatched

“It is our belief by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure we have a chance of achieving a freeze on the Korean Peninsula.

“We will not rest and will not relent until we obtain the objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”

Abe – who has already met Trump in Washington - added: “It goes without saying that it is a matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well peaceable settlements of the issue.

“But at the same time, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless and it is necessary for us to exercise pressure North Korea so that it comes forward and engages in this serious dialogue.”

Pence on Monday had travelled to the tense zone dividing the Koreas and warned the North that after years of testing nukes was trying US patience.

AP:Associated Press

The USS Carl Vinson has numerous fighter jets on board

USS CARL VINSON

Length: 1,092ft

Aircraft: 90 fixed wing and helicopters

Speed: 30+ knots

Weight: 102,900 tons

Crew: 6,062

Home port: San Diego, California

Commissioned: March 13, 1982

EPA

President Trump has said he wants to work with Japan

Getty Images

US Navy ships in the Philippine Sea

Mike Pence says ' all options are on the table' but US wants 'peaceful resolution' with North Korea